Who Are You People??

Or is it who are your people??

Mar 14, 2026

It snowed Thursday in my corner of Virginia. We all wondered if it was a curse from that damned groundhog. Temperatures the day before kissed 80 degrees. This just adds to the strangeness of living outside Washington, D.C.

As I brushed 2-inches of snow off my car, I wondered if I could use weird weather in my new book project. I’ve started something new while I’m allowing my last project to “cool” before one final edit.

I found 25-year-old editing school notebooks in my basement!

Editor’s Tip: I learned in editing school (back in the 1990s) if you must proofread or edit your own work, put the work aside, even if it’s only for 30-minutes or an hour. Deadlines back then were killer. Today, I allow for days. It’s a luxury I don’t always have, but the fresh-eye review and the calmer emotions allows for a more honest - for fuck’s sake, did I write that?

Who are you people?

New projects start in different ways. For me, it’s usually a situation or an event. Other writers stumble into characters. I always have to ask,

Who are you people?
Where did you come from?
Does it matter?
What or how does your identity, ethnicity, and profession inform this story?

In The Pelican Tide, my “people” are Cajun with deep roots in their community. That was essential to the story structure. I don’t populate books lightly, meaning I won’t blindly create characters who have cultural nuances I don’t completely understand. I employed two sensitivity readers for Pelican to read my Vietnamese family and my African American characters. They both improved the depth and authenticity of my story.

Recently I finished Games of Chance by Raquel Drosos. I was struck by her Italian American characters, their authenticity, and how it was a thread running through the story.

Raquel is a fellow Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA) member so I felt comfortable reaching out to her. Having a community is important!

Games of Chance is a deeply layered and emotional story about an Italian American family. A brother and sister tragically orphaned and raised by their Italian aunt and uncle alongside their cousin. The three children are so close in age, they are siblings. What struck me is how Raquel leans into this. I thought I leaned into the whole Cajun background but nothing like Raquel.

That’s authorial confidence. I want some of that.

The Secret Sauce - Gravy in this Case

Raquel and I had a fascinating discussion about character building. She is Italian and the people and community she writes so beautifully are real to her. So much so that though she created a fictional town in New Jersey to set most of her story, people knew where it was; ).

I love that familiar, cozy feeling where you see and experience a setting because you identify with it.

But why Italian?

Raquel says, “Every time I saw a family like mine in books, movies, or TV, the family was always in the Mafia! I enjoy a good mob movie too, but there is more to my heritage than stories about crime. I wanted to portray a family like the ones I knew who had the mannerisms, words, traditions, food, and accents that characterize Italian-Americans on the East Coast. (United States).

This checks several boxes: her personal “why”. Where her well of emotion and pull-no-punches descriptions come from, and characters. But there is more to writing a character like Uncle Sal or Aunt Maria to create an ethnic identity. For me, that’s the question: how does identify inform story?

Raquel says, “Let’s start with food! Readers tell me they get hungry while reading Games of Chance. Recipes are an essential part of any culture. My characters enjoy Italian-American dishes like eggplant parmigiana, escarole and beans, and osso buco–but the most important is gravy! Most people call “gravy” tomato sauce or marinara sauce, but the word is gravy in my northern New Jersey dialect. Making gravy is a labor of love. It’s traditionally prepare for family dinners on Sundays. I have fond memories of waking up to the smell of garlic and oil the same way my characters do. Gravy, and food in general, has a deeper meaning in Games of Chance, representing home and family.

Editor’s note: I asked Raquel for her gravy recipe and she admitted it was impossible to write down. It’s one of those you just have make it family things. I tried!

In addition to familiar cultural elements like food, Raquel leans hard into dialogue. She says, “the novel reflects the way Italian-Americans, and people from northern New Jersey, speak. Quick banter, strong expressions of emotion, cursing, and inside jokes–this is the speech I was surrounded by growing up, and it is the way my characters sound as well.”

I admit there’s a bravery in writing that way and having confidence you’ll get it right. Each of the three characters has a distinct voice.

Raquel also called on her travel to Italy. As someone who travels a lot, I love when other authors do this too.

Silly photo fun in Alba, Italy from my recent trip during the truffle festival. I can’t tell you how many shots this took to get right. BTW: Alba is the birthplace of Nutella!

Back to Raquel. (Sorry I had to share this crazy image).

Raquel studied abroad in Italy and has visited many times. She says, “I wanted to send at least one of my characters there–it gave me an excuse to describe the beautiful places I’d seen! Alex was perfect because he’s the most adventurous. As I wrote his travel scenes, I realized that exploring new places–and romanticizing them, as we tend to do when we’re on vacation–was a crucial part of Alex’s identity, with both good and bad consequences. He refers back to his travel memories when he’s at a low point, and realizes that Italy looks different through different eyes.

I appreciate her thoughtfulness about this. As my silly picture shows, we create scenes of sunshine and smiles, but real life and good stories are about conflict and micro tensions.

I wanted to hear Raquel’s take on writing characters outside her background. What I learned is that she and I have completely different development methods. For her, character comes first, then research.

I’m all about the research first.

She says, “it is easiest to write what you know, and while none of my novels are autobiographical, most of my main characters share something in common with me. My ideas start with chemistry between characters–not an overarching theme, or a plot, or a point I’m trying to make, but simply fictional people talking in my head that I cannot stop following around! My research comes later in the process, when I already know my people on an emotional level. I can see the gaps in my knowledge and how to fix them. I find interviews to be the most useful form of research, because I learn the facts and develop the sense of how a certain type of person talks.”

Character chemistry first is a useful thought exercise for me to try as I delve into my new story world. I want to learn how to intuitively mine emotions. I often need to edit and expand reactions and feelings into scenes.

And of course, I want to know what’s coming next from Raquel. She says, “I’m writing about another Italian-American family from New Jersey–no surprise! This novel includes travel elements and is narrated by five different characters of various ages. Readers can stay updated on the progress book by subscribing to my newsletter at raqueldrosos.com.

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Research for Writers and Other Curious People

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